All posts tagged The Book of Life

If anyone can turn banal phrases about baby spinach and rainbows into heated declarations, it’s Ice Cube. While appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to promote his voice role as the Candle Maker in “The Book of Life,” the N.W.A rapper showed off his soft – but still intense – side when once again asked to put his own spin on seemingly innocuous statements like “Thank you for the Crate and Barrel gift card, you always know what to get me.”

A little portentous background music, some dimmed lighting, a sneer in place of sincerity, and a stray “punk” and “broke-ass” here and there, and suddenly Ice Cube has turned a romantic weekend getaway into one fraught with tension, lust and the promise of some fall produce: “Baby, this weekend, it ain’t gonna be nothing but me and you picking apples in Maine – and tapping that ass.” Read More »

Brad Pitt’s latest film, “Fury,” rolled into first place at the box office this weekend, as a trio of new releases opened with mixed to disappointing results.

Mr. Pitt’s World War II drama brought in an estimated $23.5 million in the U.S. and Canada. The holdover thriller “Gone Girl” held strong in second place, collecting an additional $17.8 million for a total of $107.1 million.

The new animated movie “The Book of Life” took third place, with a so-so $17 million, and the Nicholas Sparks romance “The Best of Me” opened with few sparks itself, collecting $10.2 million in fifth place.

“Fury” arrived in theaters just two months before Mr. Pitt’s wife, Angelina Jolie, brings her own World War II epic, “Unbroken,” to the big screen. Read More »

This week at the multiplex, we’ve got soldiers in a tank (“Fury,” starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf), a princess and her suitors (“The Book of Life,” with voice performances by Channing Tatum and Zoe Saldana), and star-crossed lovers (“The Best Of Me,” starring Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden). Find out what the critics have to say on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Fury”

Take the star of “Inglourious Basterds,” mix him in with a ragtag band of soldiers reminiscent of the crew in “Saving Private Ryan,” and what have you got? “Fury,” a World War II drama that critics say is a powerful document of the horrors of war that doesn’t quite meet its grand ambitions but still packs a wallop. Read More »

Advertisements for the coming movie “The Book of Life” feature the film’s color-saturated Land of the Remembered, a mystical world occupied by the deceased. The studio behind the film, Reel FX Creative Studios, wants viewers to travel there themselves after seeing the movie – via virtual reality.

The studio announced this week it was launching a division, called Reel FX VR, dedicated to building virtual-reality experiences – adding an untested medium to the animation company’s collection of platforms. Virtual-reality work done by the company has included an experience tied to the summer 2013 movie “Pacific Rim,” and the company will unveil its “Book of Life” experience early next year, timed with the film’s home-video release.

The company has about 300 employees split between Dallas and Santa Monica, Calif., and said virtual-reality projects would typically involve between 25 and 50 workers. Read More »

This week’s top new releases include a time-traveling witch, an art restorer who doubles as a spy, and a famously reclusive American author.

Our weekly series, First Lines: The Call Me Ishmael Project, features the first sentence from three new books each week, plus one classic opening line. Add your favorite first line from a classic or contemporary work in the comments, or tweet it using the hashtag #WSJfirstlines. Read More »

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